We proceed to spend the afternoon together as always. I go on and on about stuff going on in my life, he listens. Its enjoyable as always. We finish up because he has plans that evening.

Skip ahead a few hours, right before bed...

Me: What are your plans this week? I really need to finish up Christmas shopping but I have left your birthday open unless you already have plans.

There is silence. Very unusual.

Me: It's ok if you have already made plans, we can always celebrate another day. I promise I'm not upset.

Him: Ummm, (insert sweet name he calls me here), I have to tell you something.

Me: Oh no, what?

And I'm thinking if he has already made plans I will bite my lip and suck it up even though I would like to cream him.

Him: Today was my birthday.

I GASP!

Me: No it wasn't! It's Thursday.

Him: Nope. It was my birthday when I got off the phone with you last night. It was my birthday when I asked if you wanted to do something this morning. It was my birthday all afternoon. It is actually my birthday for 15 more minutes.

I am so upset (because even though it is him that has been forgotten, and Lord help him if it was the other way around, its all about me still) that I am speechless.

Me: Well can't we still celebrate it this week?

Him: Nope. Have to wait until next year.

Me: C'mon!

Him: Nope.

Me: But I want to give you your gifts! C'mon!

Him: You have given me the best gift of all. 365 days of not letting you live this down.

Ahahahahahaha! This man. He amazes me. Everyday. In good ways and sometimes bad, but always amazes me. I wish he knew how excited I am to spend the next year making it up to him!!

It seems that in life it is not only your children you want to protect from bad things. Apparently this is true for all important people in your life. You want to wrap them up in your arms and hug it away. Try and make them laugh. Keep their minds off of it. Cry with them when that isn't possible. Beat up (actually my imagination runs wild at what I would like to do to this person but I'm trying to be blogger friendly) the culprit. Take them ice cream and Kleenex. Think of the perfect words to make it all better. Sit there in silence if necessary. However, there is no magic cure. Unfortunately that ol' cliche "Time will heal all" comes into play more than most of us would like.

Just know that you are loved and I am here, my friend, until time has done it's thing.

I wasn't going to blog about my holiday weekend because the grouchy teen and I had a big showdown on Thanksgiving day that ended with us spending our day in separate venues. The showdown involved the typical mother versus teen scenario. I am apparently unreasonable and he is of course selfish. It is a fight as old as time itself, I am sure. However, on very rare, I'm talking when pigs fly and the moon is blue occasions, it just happens....

We put up the tree every year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This year was no different except for Bug Juice had a birthday party to attend which involved swimming in the middle of November (heated pool at the Y...no I am not an entirely negligent parent!) so she couldn't leave us to deal with the tree fast enough. With a tree ready to be trimmed, the grouchy teen and I spent one of the most perfect evenings doing so. We started with the many, many, many lights I bought. This was quite and ordeal I assure you. Something about making sure all the plugs are in the right order so that it will plug up with the next strand can be mind boggling, but with a little laughing and maybe a few (close your eyes on this part, mom) under the breath profanities we managed. We then did the garland and finally the best part...THE ORNAMENTS!!

"This one is 19 years-old, mom!!" he says as if it was from the days of dinosaurs walking the earth.

It was the one of a penguin driving a convertible and was given to me by one of my favorite people to commemorate the year I turned sixteen. There is also the one from the year before of a mouse on a bird with a sign that says "flying South" because she knew how much I loved going home to Georgia and the one from the year after of the volleyball-playing moose. I wonder if she knows how much we think of her at Christmas when we pull these out of the ornament box.

I would also like to take a moment here to thank Hallmark for putting the year of the ornament for all grouchy teens to see and for giving them yet another moment to tease their mothers.

It was a special night that he and I got to share together and it makes all the parent/teen battles vanish into then air when these kind of times happen.

A song can take you back in time. A song can remind you so strongly of someone that it can take your breath away. A song can bring back a memory so vivid that you swear you were there. A song can leave you crying, laughing, wishing, mourning, at peace.

I have many, many songs that take me to these places. A song about the sun and the rain reminds me of my mother. Another about the light in the darkness...my sisters. A song about a bullfrog of the best teacher I've ever had. A song about not being able to lose me...the kids. I won't bore you with the extremely long list.

This new one was linked to me by my sister because it reminded her of me. The thing is....it reminds ME of me. At least how I want to be...accepting of whatever is to happen. I love you, little sister. Here's to hoping...

I've been so obsessed with this birthday coming up that I have forgotten that there are other things to look forward to this month. Stuffing. Friends coming home for the holidays. Christmas decorations start going up. I think the kids and I will have a real tree this year. Stuffing. Some time off from work to spend with family. Stuffing. Towards the end of the month we might get to break out the scarves. OOoooo I love scarves!! My mom usually makes me a carrot cake at some point. Stuffing. The River will start playing Christmas music and I will get to hear Kenny Loggins "Celebrate Me Home" a few hundred times. Good thing it's my favorite. Stuffing. Even my grumpy teenage son gets a little more chipper this time of year. This is going to be fun and did I mention stuffing??

So I locked myself out of my computer today. Yes, it is possible. I had to have my computer reformatted a few months ago because I trusted someone I shouldn't have (chalk that up to lessons learned) and changed the password.

I usually look for something on my desk and make it my password (no worries...I will no longer be using this method so tis okay to tell you) so since 8 am this morning I have been sitting here trying to remember it.

Candles? No.Matches? No.Pen? Pencil? No. No.

I'm looking all around the desk...my room...what is that spot on the wall? Wall? No. Spot? No.

Seashell? No.Paper Flowers? No.Straw? No.Ribbon? No.

Ewww! Its time for me to repaint my toenails! Toenails? No.

Charger? No.Postcard? No.

I do the puzzle on the back of my cereal box as I weep for my rotten cheesecakes in Cafe World. Cereal? No. Chex? No.

Medicine? No.Both kids names...forward and backwards? No. No. No. No.

What if the password isn't on my desk anymore because Ive cleaned it off?? I slap my forehead! Forehead? No.

I hear what my imagination believes to be a GIANT CRASH! So thinking I am being taken over by burglars, I put down the cereal box and go see what it was. My razor fell in my shower. Shower? No. Razor? No.

About to pull my hair out at this point I decide to send a S.O.S. email also via my phone (dang, those things come in handy! Don't they??). The recipient of this email calls me and I can actually hear is eyes rolling at me, for I get myself in these messes every now and then. After the speech about writing things down, and using all the options the computer gives you to help you not forget your password, he calms me down. He then gives me a link to a website that will let me download a program onto a CD that will let me reset my password.

I then have to call the ex-bestie, who laughs it up, Har! Har! HAR!! but downloads the program on the CD for me and even runs it over in the rain! And it only cost me a plate of food at dinner time!! Thanks, ex-bestie!

The program runs for 10 minutes then says password not found. Sigh. However, it does allow me on the Internet. And now that we have decided to reformat my computer, I have called in a ticket for my ceiling fan because its noisy (you notice a lot of noises when you are sitting around thinking), I've accepted my kitchen in Cafe World can be cleaned tomorrow, and I was able to blog....I am at peace once again with all my hair intact.

She once was a lion. I remember one time her dad and I worked for an entire week on her costume. She was a traffic light. She lit up and everything! We made it out of a giant box and she would tip over with her little feet kicking in the air. Oh, how I would laugh while she would look at me in disbelief. Ahahaha...even then the cliche mother/daughter relationship had begun! There were princesses and fairies and even a witch one year. Though it was the cutest witch...with the striped little tights!

"No, mom! I want to be scary this year! No more bumblebees and my hair being curled!" she says to me. I look at her and think where did my baby go....

"But you are so adorable! One more year!" I plead.

"Nope. I want to be the monster from the movie The Ring. Dad told me how I can do my hair like hers and it will be really cool!" she says. Her mind made up.

Uuuuuuggghhh that man. Sometimes I would like to sick a monster on him! I type that with much fondness but I am rolling my eyes!

I will just have to be glad she wants to be a monster and not a low cut top, mini skirt wearing nurse or something. When that year comes...Lord, help me.

The fact that one of my favorite people is having surgery this week and the big 35 being a few weeks away has me thinking about getting older and death here lately. I’m not obsessing about it or being morbid….just the average run of the mill kind of things. I’m seeing more gray hairs and a wrinkle or two. Things hurt a little longer than they used to. I have to hold my arms straight above my head if I want my boobs to be where they used to be. I could go on and on but I will spare all of you....

I look at my parents and think “Ok maybe they aren’t invincible superheroes!” This scares me a little…

35 is really freaking me out. I have set a few of my “must be done by this age or it’s not going to happen” deadlines for 35. 35…allow me to say it one more time…35. I am not vain, I do not mind the idea of getting older but sometimes when I’m sitting in that minivan and I’m wondering about one of the kids needing new shoes and how much is the utility bill going to run me this month and what in the world will I cook for dinner I truly understand those commercials where the women are screaming “Calgon take me away!” and long for my younger days.

I digress. Old age is inevitable. I guess the only thing I should concern myself with at this point is if I should be cremated or pick out a wig, because no mortician will be able to do anything with this hair.

"We talked about sitting on the front porch in rocking chairs. We were even discussing colors of flowers to use in the yard. I want these things already, I'm tired of waiting." I whined.

"Then you get off your butt and you work for these things. And when you have them you can say, I did this! This is mine and I didn't need a man to help me have it. " my wise friend said.

And as she was saying it I could imagine myself standing on my front porch with my hands on my hips with a swollen proud chest looking around at all I had accomplished.

I am not Cinderella waiting on the return of my glass slipper. I am not Sleeping Beauty waiting on the Prince to come and kiss me awake. I haven't wanted to be either one of these fairytale women since I was six. I do not need someone to save me.

I am strong and independent but this does not mean I can not be soft and need a shoulder to cry on from time to time. I have my own way I see things in life but this does not mean that I can not understand the way you see things and why you see them that way. I have my own hobbies and friends but this does not mean that I am not interested in yours.

A couple should compliment each other like a fine wine with a good steak. They should bring out the best in each other. Peanut butter and Jelly! Peas and Carrots! I truly believe that...I do.

But...

And really hear me on this....

I am not, nor will I ever be the young (lets face it, that adjective was dropped from describing me about 10 years ago), sit there and smile instead of actually having a conversation with you (because it takes 2 to have one of those...hello??), let you think that you are smarter than me, modern day damsels in distress! If that is what you are looking for then move along.....

This weather makes me want to climb as high as I can into a tree, so that I can sit on the branch swaying in the wind (to The Sisters, please refrain from any Nell references! I'm trying to blog.) and think of all things profound. Ok, who am I kidding? More like all things random that pass through my mind in fleeting moments but you get the point...

It has been a busy few days around this neck of the woods. Spent some time with great friends and had a little time to relax....the right combination of these two things make for a splendid weekend. Bug Juice (my 10 year-old-daughter) was home sick from school earlier this week so we spent some time on the couch watching girly movies much to my sons dismay. She is feeling better and enjoying the weather outside once again. This pleases me, since there are so many kids out there right now who aren't recovering as fast. I do keep them in my thoughts.

Get to have dinner with the family tonight. Maybe the tree house in the backyard will have to suffice since I'm a tad old for tree climbing. We shall see...

JagerBOMB has turned out to be more of a dear friend than a co-worker, but she like us all, comes with her quirks. She is a 26 year-old who still believes. I can not explain enough on how that sentence so very much describes her. The thing that is most special about her is she rubs off on me a little. I've mentioned her awesomesuceness now to the quirks....she is 26 and parties like a rockstar. My mid-thirties body can not keep up and needs more time to recover when I do hang out with her, but boy is it a blast. Her biggest quirk *long dramatic drumroll*.... she can NOT spell. I mean can not. She asked me how to spell weed-eater today. In fact the only thing she can spell is Jager, enough said.

The Lemondrop is sweet and sour. Sassy even. The best combination ever in my opinion. She keeps me on my toes and is the only person in the world I can say anything to and she will sill be there. She makes me feel this need to be the same for her. I might add at this point that she is fussing at me as I type to get off the computer while also saying I better have this finished so she can read it when she gets home. Can we say wishy-washy? She gets me. Every person in this world needs someone who gets them. I guess more simply said....she is my person.

I have many tales to tell of these two characters but I will leave it for now....

After many sleepless nights and counting sheep failed me I began to read BLOGS. It started off simple, I had a friend who posted on hers about her day to day happenings in what she refers to as Lipstick-land. It was quite amusing and would keep me very entertained in the wee hours of the morning, however, like most bloggers, by her having to actually experience these "happenings" she wasn't able to post as much as my insomnia induced cravings called for, so I branched out to other blogs like any good junkie would do! Here in the last few days I realized that "Hey, maybe I should give one a try...I allow whatever pops into my head slip through that crack that most would call a mouth all the time." And so it begins....

I know this is short but I am very excited about how I want the page to look and whatnot so I will get back to the randomness soon...promise!